Man may have carried out other circumcisions
The other procedures on baby boys could have taken place in Dublin on Sunday afternoon before he travelled to Waterford.
Gardaí investigating the death of four-week-old Callis Osaghae want to question a man, believed to be from the North, who travelled in a red estate car, possibly a Volvo, from Dublin to Waterford between 4pm and 6pm. He is a white male in his 40s with white hair.
Callis Osaghae died after the procedure was carried out in a Waterford city house on Sunday night.
Yesterday the Eastern Regional Health Authority’s Dr Maurice Gueret said Health Minister Micheál Martin had blood on his hands over the death because his department had failed to act on warnings issued two years ago.
“Two years ago a child nearly bled to death after a similar operation by a bogus doctor after the health services denied the Nigerian family access to circumcision.
“People are forced to go to backstreet butchers if they are not being provided with the services they need. If we are to protect children the health system needs to step up a gear and provide it. But the department only responds to the death of a child. Three children have died as a result of the woeful health service in the last 12 months. This child’s death was preventable which means there is blood on the hands of the department for failing to act,” Dr Gueret said.
He warned other children would die because most cultures that desire a baby boy to be circumcised must do so within six weeks. Most doctors here will not perform the operation until the child is more than six months old, because putting a baby under anaesthetic can be risky.
“This procedure was fairly common up the 1970s for the country’s large Jewish community. Britain had the same experience when it had a wave of immigrants and now Ireland has to respond to the needs of our immigrant population,” Dr Gueret said.
Crumlin Children’s Hospital carried out 31 non-medical circumcisions this year, compared to 15 in 1993. There is usually a six-month waiting period. University College Hospital Galway carried out 129 last year, but only four for religious or cultural reasons.
The South Eastern Health Board said yesterday it provided services to nearly 3,000 asylum seekers and refugees. It said most circumcisions do not take place until the child is more than two years old and the procedures are only carried out after a GP referral.
The Department of Health said it was up to medical professionals to decide on when routine operations were carried out on patients.
